


Penury

by HarleyJade



Category: Ylvis
Genre: AU no wives/no kids, Blood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-09 11:55:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3248747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarleyJade/pseuds/HarleyJade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Vegard gets fed up with work and his little brother, he drags himself and the one closest to him into a deadly situation...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my wonderful and beautiful beta, Leanne (vegardsnipples)

Vegard took in a slow breath; easy, measured, purposeful. The next moment, a soft exhale left his parched lips. This outpouring of air was just as slow, measured and purposeful as the last.

Taking in another slow breath, he listened to the soft, steady breathing of Bård who was curled up on the floor beside him, unconscious. 

He wanted to reach over and place his hand on his brother's shoulder, but the effort to move his arm felt too great.

He took another breath, this one even slower and shorter than the last. His eyes slipped closed and a feeling of extreme exhaustion passed over him. His body felt so cold and oddly numb despite the numerous injuries that marred his body. He couldn't even feel the pain from his wounds anymore. He could sense that the pain was still there, but it felt as if it was part of something else; a part of someone else. 

Vaguely, he could feel himself slowly drifting away, his eyes slipping closed. Someone was calling his name, but it sounded as if the voice was coming from far away and echoing strangely; as if he was hearing it through a long dark tunnel...

6 hours earlier...

Vegard turned in his office chair, looking for something to inspire him to finish a segment for the newest season of I Kveld Med Ylvis. They had been stuck on this for hours, him and Bård, together in their office. The ideas just didn't come. 

“A team of 10 people who have worked in comedy for years, and no one has anything to contribute!” Vegard grumbled in annoyance, slamming his laptop shut. 

Suddenly, Bård was behind him and dragged his office chair from the table where Vegard was working. Spinning it around, he lowered down in front of his brother. 

“That's why they invented video games, brother of mine!” Bård grinned encouragingly. He knew that Vegard needed a distraction. He leaned over his brother and opened the laptop, opening the multiplayer they usually enjoyed together in their free time. 

Vegard glared at his little brother with narrowed eyes, which didn't faze Bård one bit; in fact, his grin only widened.

“I'm trying to work here, Bård!” Vegard snapped angrily. 

“You just said that you ran out of ideas!” Bård pointed out.

“Doesn't mean I wasn't still thinking through the crap that we already have!” Vegard snarled. He lifted his arm in an attempt to push Bård's hands from the keyboard.

“I'm not deaf!” Bård complained as he winced slightly and backed away, throwing a glare back at Vegard. He crossed his arms over his chest and flopped back against the cushions of the couch that they kept in their office with an exaggerated pout upon his features. They sat in silence as Vegard continued to brood over his laptop.   
“But I'm so bored and we aren't being creative at the moment anyway!” Bård complained, slumping down into the couch cushions. 

Vegard attempted to ignore his brother as best as he could, finally managing to open the document and making another attempt to focus on it. 

Then his brother's face was right in front of his own, wide, blue eyes pleading. “Come on, Vegard, play a game with me, pleaaaase!”

“No”, he stated firmly as he pushed his brother's face out of the way with his hand.

“Come on, Vegard!”

“If you don't get out of my face, I'm gonna rearrange yours!”, Vegard threatened, his concentration gone again and his own boredom beginning to claw at him like an itch he couldn't scratch.

Bård let out a heartfelt sigh designed to tug at Vegard's heart strings, but Vegard resolutely ignored the small annoyance. 

Seeing that his tactics were failing, Bård flopped back down on the couch again and picked up a well read magazine from the coffee table's surface. 

“When are Calle and Magnus supposed to be back anyway?”, Bård asked, a hint of hurt and dejection lacing his words. 

“Later,” Vegard answered vaguely, flipping through his notes, engaging with Bård against his own will.

“How much later?”, Bård asked insistently.

“When they're done!”, Vegard answered offhandedly, wondering if their filming schedule made more sense than what he was seeing in his notes at the moment. 

“But when will they be done?” Bård moaned persistently.

Vegard closed his eyes, attempting to keep his temper in check. “When they're done, Bård!” he replied through clenched teeth. 

“But – “

“I don't know!” Vegard snapped, his attention now focused solely upon his irritating brother. “Okay?! I don't know! They went to look for locations for our next segment, so, however long that takes.”

“You are just cranky because you had to stay here. And we were supposed to finish the script for this segment and the filming schedule,” Bård reminded him. 

“Well, we didn't manage to, did we?”, Vegard refuted his brother's observation that he was angry because he had to stay at the office. “You think I wanna go poke around in dusty basements and listen to Calle's jibber-jabber on what the hell is wrong with the angle the pipes lead to the other side of the room? No thank you!”

Bård looked at him sceptically. “So you're saying you wanted to not have your tasks finished and stay here, so that Calle and Magnus got to go instead?”

“Something like that,” Vegard answered smugly. “It's not that I don't like exploring new places, but – “

“You totally wanted to go, you love exploring geeky and creepy places!” Bård mocked.

“It's not that, it's –“, Vegard protested indignantly, heat spreading across his cheeks. 

“Sure it isn't... “, Bård nodded sagely, not fooled for a minute. 

“Shut up, Bård!”, Vegard growled as he turned his attention back to the laptop, ignoring his brother's presence. 

Time ticked painfully by and Bård let out another long suffering sigh. Finally, Vegard gave up his pretence of actually working.

“Fine, let's go!” he said, suddenly to his feet. 

Bård mirrored his action without thinking before asking for more information, “go where?”

“Out!” Vegard answered firmly, even though he wasn't sure where he wanted to go yet either. 

“But we have to finish the stuf...”, Bård offered nervously. 

“Yeah, well, I'm done with it for today!” contempt dripping in his voice. “We are still in charge of Concorde TV, we have leverage!”

“But...”, Bård paused for a moment before continuing. “We set deadlines.”

“Doesn't mean we can't change them,” Vegard answered with bitterness. It wasn't like the things were due tomorrow, and they founded the company, in theory they could switch between tasks on their own. And besides, they could go and explore some abandoned buildings independently, helping Calle and Magnus, which meant that in return, all four of them could work together on the abandoned tasks later.

He grabbed his backpack with an extra jacket in it, and his Swiss army knife which could maybe help them explore the abandoned buildings.

“But the team said we-”

“Enough, Bård!” Vegard roared, tired of listening to his baby brother repeating himself. “They said we had to finish our tasks, but they didn't say we couldn't help Magnus and Calle explore some old buildings along the way!”

“Old buildings?” Bård asked carefully.

“Yeah, idiot, old buildings. Like the one we need for the new segments. My head is completely void of new ideas, and this place doesn't really help my creativity. Maybe we'll get some ideas along the way.”

Bård hesitated for a moment. 

“You can film the basements with your iPhone!" Vegard offered enticingly. 

Bård smiled, but still wasn't fully convinced. “Even when I provide a commentary track?”

Vegard felt his stomach clench at the suggestion and he repressed a grimace. He was still trying to cope with the Ylvis 3 commentary. “Whatever you want,” he replied tightly. 

“Awesome!”, Bård said excitedly, and took the lead out of the office.

“Great, let's go then,” Vegard said as he strode along after his brother, through the office building until they stood in front of the main entrance, in the fresh winter air.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the late update! I broke my back, just like Bård a few years back with his aerial silk number. I'm calling dips on writing that fanfiction btw xD  
> Thanks again to my beautiful and wonderful beta Vegardsnippels! Read her story, she is an amazing writer!  
> If you have questions or ideas I could use, write me on tumblr, it's playit-mrtoot ^^

Vegard acknowledged to himself that he needed the exercise and the fresh air when they headed north, along the beautiful stream that ran outside their office building. They were heading to Sandakerveien, an industrial area that held a few old warehouses that they could maybe find a place to film their segments in.   
Strolling along the river, Vegard finally grinned in anticipation. It had been a week since they had left the office for anything other than a short visit home to take a shower and have a few hours of sleep. They were having a hard time not going stir-crazy. Vegard also realized that he could only snap at his brother so many times before he would probably damage their relationship for good, so this little walk would be great to release some of the built up tension and to fix the brotherly bonds that they had probably destroyed over the last week.   
They walked for 15 minutes or so. Bård was walking slower than necessary but for once Vegard didn't mind and let his younger brother enjoy the nice early spring weather. They were just beginning to make out the first old industrial buildings in the area they were heading to.   
Vegard headed right, leading them away from the little stream and into the smaller alleys that lay in the shadows of the high buildings in the area. As they roamed the streets in search of an older, dilapidated place that could hold exactly the right atmosphere for their shoot, he listened to Bård's effusive chatter about a new guitar pedal that would come out that month.   
After a further10 minutes of wandering deeper and deeper into the older part of Sandakerveien, Vegard noticed a small hall that lay in the shadows of some bigger, new buildings. It's bricks were darker, some windows were missing and others were boarded up completely.  
He stood still and looked at it, taking in the uncanny, yet fascinating atmosphere.  
“Bård, look at that!”  
His little brother instantly focused on the building, and Vegard could see his own fascination mirrored in his gaze. After a few moments of silent admiration the brothers walked towards the front door. A sign said that the building was once used by a chemical supplying company. 

“Probably before they discovered the oil in '69!”, Bård laughed.   
Vegard agreed as he gave the door a closer look. He was sure that no one had used it for at least a few decades. It's hinges were more rust than iron, there were cobwebs around the edges and he was positive that using the door handle could give him deep cuts on his hands that would result in blood poisoning. He was a little surprised that a building like that, in the middle of a booming city like Oslo, was still standing and not yet replaced with a new office building or a living complex.   
“Do you think we can find out who owns this building and give them a call? It looks perfect to film the ghost segment in!” Bård wondered.   
“I have no idea. Maybe. But that would raise a lot of questions, and we don't really have the time. Besides, we don't even know what it looks like inside! Come on, we'll have a look around!”  
Vegard went to the right side of the building to take a look around the corner. He came along some windows on the way, some of which were boarded up. Vegard tried to take a look through the windows, but inside was too dark. He continued circling the building until he reached the back door and Bård followed suit.   
They were standing in front of a huge loading ramp, which must have been used to deliver goods to the building, back in the day. It was almost as tall as Vegard himself.  
Nowadays, it was littered with old soft drink cans, rotten newspapers and shards of glass. There had once been a stairwell to climb the ramp, but the concrete was cracked and was laid about in huge chunks.   
“Bård, come here!” Vegard folded his hands, bent his knees a little and nodded encouragingly. Bård understood immediately. He put his hands on Vegard's shoulders and his right foot into Vegard's folded hands. They were so used to this little acrobatic act that Bård pushed off with his left foot at the same time Vegard pushed his right foot up without thinking about the action. When Bård was at the highest point, he let go of Vegard's shoulders, turned to the platform, put his hands on it and swung his left knee on to the concrete. That gave him enough momentum to push himself up, until he was kneeling safely on top of the platform.   
Vegard had already taken a run-up and was now jumping up the platform as high as he could. Bård grabbed his arms and hauled him up until they were both standing.   
“Wow”, panted Vegard, taking a look around. The platform was lying in the shadows; sunlight blocked by the surrounding buildings. There was only a small street leading to the loading ramp, which was far too small to hold modern delivery trucks. It was without doubt one of the reasons the supplier wasn't in business anymore.   
Clearing a path through the litter with his foot, Bård headed towards the back door. Vegard followed, not yet sure if this really was what they were searching for. But Bård was clearly fascinated with this building now, so he followed.  
Over the double – winged door, about two and a half meters high, was a window with no pane of glass. Bård leaned against the door and stretched, trying to get a look through to the inside of the building. Of course he wasn't tall enough. He turned around and pouted a little. Vegard rolled his eyes internally. His brother was over thirty, he should know that he wouldn't reach 2.50 meters, even when he was on the tips of his toes.   
“Look, I've got an idea. This is what we have mobiles for!” Vegard grinned, took his mobile and held it high enough so that the camera could film through the broken window. To get a better angle, he leaned against his brother, pushing him against the door, which suddenly gave in.  
Surprised, both men stumbled inside, Bård landed on his back and wheezed in shock and pain. Vegard stumbled forward, and the doorway hit the mobile out of his hand.   
He turned around to find it lying in pieces on the concrete. Checking it, he realized that not only the display was broken beyond repair, but the internal hardware also. With a sigh, he put the remains in this pocket. It was old anyway, Bård had wanted him to buy a newer model for months.   
Bård! Suddenly Vegard remembered that his little brother had taken a fall. On his back! He knew that Bård had had problems with his neck for years, ever since he pulled that stupid stunt with the aerial silk during their fourth stage show. How could he forget his little brother because of a stupid mobile?!  
He spun around and discovered the younger brother still sitting on the ground, the pain obvious in his face.   
“Bård!” Vegard was kneeling next to him in an instant. “Are you okay?”  
“Stupid question! It hurts!, Bård answered, but Vegard could already hear from his voice that the shock was bigger than the actual pain.   
Putting an arm around him, Vegard helped his little brother up, who was running his hand over his behind and not over his neck which made Vegard immensely relieved.   
“What about your mobile?” Bård asked when he finally stood straight again and Vegard dared to let go of him.  
“Well, I guess you will get your wish. I will probably buy a new phone. But not the one you have, I saw how it bends!”  
Both boys smirked and finally took a look around. They were standing in a huge storage room, the walls were made of concrete. That was disappointing, the boys had hoped that the inside of the building would have been of the same dark bricks that made the outside so eery.   
The floor was covered in broken grass and dried leaves. On their left, some stairs led to the upper levels of the building, but both the stairs and the ceiling were wooden, so it was clear that they wouldn't go up there. After all this time it would be a miracle if nothing collapsed if they put the slightest weight on the structure. The same applied for a wooden trapdoor on the far right side of the hall that seemed to lead to a storage tank under the hall.  
The right held a few old storage racks which held old cans, some glass containers and other stuff that must have been used to store the chemicals in better days. Most of it was broken, some traces of old leakages could be seen on the floor.   
“Are you sure it is safe to be here? Who knows what they were producing here?...Isn't considered trespassing what we are doing here?”, Bård voiced his concerns. He had an unpleasant feeling, and not because of the fall.   
“Nah, we fell in by accident, so we can have a look, I think. Besides, who would notice anyway? No one has been here for years, and no one can see inside. And for the chemicals, they have been evaporated for years! Come on, it was your idea to come here, Bård, don't be a sissy now!”  
Looking to the other side of the hall, Vegard noticed two closed doors. To prove his words, he headed to the left door with firm steps. Bård had no other chance than to follow him, Vegard knew that his brother wouldn't leave him alone and smiled to himself that he had gotten what he wanted. That didn't happen often.  
Reaching the door, he studied the door handle. It didn't look too rusty, but to be safe, he pulled his sleeve over his hand before he pulled it down. The door didn't move a bit. He tried it again and leaned against it, still nothing. Sighing, he took a step back. Breaking a door on purpose went a little too far for his liking.  
To prove that he wasn't any more afraid than his big brother, Bård was already heading for the second door. While Vegard followed him, Bård had already pushed the handle down, and to their surprise the door opened. Bård waited for Vegard to catch up, then he opened the door further and the two went into a smaller, darker room.   
In fact, it was so dark that they could hardly see anything, so they stayed where they were until Bård had taken his mobile from his pocket and activated the flashlight.   
What they saw came as a big surprise. This room wasn't as old, dusty and run down als the first hall. In fact, there were modern desks, equipment they faintly remembered seeing in their high school chemical class: big blue plastic containers lined up on at the walls, a turned down computer and old pizza cartons.   
Both men felt their jaws dropping and had to blink a few times to make sure they weren't dreaming.  
“So, is this company still in business? This place looks so rundown!”, Bård broke the silence.   
“I don't know. This is weird!”, Vegard answered, recovering from the shock and walking towards one of the containers. “But why would they have a laboratory here? This is merely a storage facility. And this is hardly what a professional chemical laboratory looks like!”  
Bending down, he tried to read what the label of the container said.   
“Bård, can you search GBL real quickly, please? I want to know what they are making here!”  
“Yeah, wait a moment...”, Bård searched for the light switch, found it next to the door, activated it and was able to turn off the flashlight app. “GBL, you said?”  
Vegard took a closer look around the room while they waited for the search results.  
Someone had been here not too long ago, there were half emptied coffee mugs on the tables and a newspaper from yesterday. There was also a closed door on the far left.  
“Vegard? Here... GBL is short for Gamma – Butyrolacton and is a potent solvent. It is used as medium for many chemicals and is monitored because it can be used to make... oh...”  
Vegard looked at Bård and saw that he went pale. “What?”  
Bård swallowed, and answered: “It is used to produce GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.”  
And it suddenly all made sense. A hidden laboratory in an old storage facility, in the middle of Oslo. They should have noticed it earlier.   
“Bård, we have to go, now!”, Vegard said, and passed the room to open the door that led them back to the storage hall. He puled the handle and pulled, but the door wouldn't open. He tried to push, even though he remembered clearly that Bård had opened the door to the other direction. Still it didn't give. He started breathing heavier and started rattling on the handle, but still nothing. Then he turned around and focused on the other door.  
Bård had watched his brother's struggles and realized that they had to find a way out, and fast. When Vegard turned around and stared at the other door, he looked behind him and noticed it.  
Being much closer to the door now, he ran to it and tried the handle. The door opened to the outside.  
Bård walked through it before Vegard had even made it half the way to him, so desperate was he to get out by now.  
Suddenly Vegard heard a surprised shriek, followed by a shocked scream from Bård. He froze, then he began to run. That first shriek was male, but it wasn't Bård's!  
As soon as he reached the door, he could hear a dark and rusty voice yell “Don't move!”, and Bård's stammering pleads. When he looked inside the next room he saw his worst nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for editing it again, my lovely vegardsnipples :-* Her fics are wonderful, you should all read them!

As soon as he reached the door, he heard a dark and rusty voice yell “Don't move!”, and Bård's stammering pleads. When he looked inside the next room he saw his worst nightmare.   
He looked at what seemed to be a staff room, and in it were a few dusty desks, more empty pizza cartons, takeaway coffee mugs and four goons.  
And the biggest of them was threatening his little brother with a knife!  
Bård was standing with his back against the wall, shivering slightly and pleading with the thug holding the knife. Seriously, this guy was at least as tall as Magnus, but double as broad as him.   
“I-I-I'm sorry, we didn't mean to d-disturb you guys, we were just looking for some... uh... old buildings... to... oh my god!”  
The thug took a step closer to Bård and raised his knife, and Bård raised his voice an octave.   
Vegard couldn't watch these men holding his brother at knife point for a second longer, and in an instant rushed to his little brother's side, narrowly avoiding the knife.  
The ruffians seemed to be surprised; they had been so focused on Bård that they hadn't even realized yet that Vegard was also standing there. Vegard was annoyed with himself- he had had the opportunity to call for help or to actually do something to help them out of this situation but he just couldn't stand hearing his brother pleading like that anymore. Maybe it was big brother instincts- they never seemed to have left him once in the 30 years they'd spent together.  
“What the heck are you doing here?!" the one with the knife yelled at Vegard.  
“What my brother said. We came here by coincidence, and now we're leaving!” Vegard managed to sound calm, he didn't want to aggravate those rogues anymore than they already did by being in their secret drug lab. He took his little brother's arm and tried to tug him to the door they came from. As soon as they took one step to the right, the bully raised his knife towards Bård again. The brothers froze.  
“You're not going anywhere! Don't think that we're stupid, we know that you saw what was in the other room!”  
“No-oo we didn't saw anything, we only looked at the bricks an.. AH!” The knive flew towards Bård, but only harmlessly grazed his jacket.  
That was it for Vegard. He took his brother's hand and ran out of the room, faster than the four goons could react.   
Through the door, along the desks in the GHB lab, twisting and turning they ran, trying to lose the men that were probably persuing them.   
Suddenly shots were fired as they passed the door to the big warehouse, and both Vegard and Bård yelped when the bullet hit some of the old bricks on the other side of the hall. They ducked and Vegard led them both to the left to seek cover under the old wooden stairs.   
Regretting his decision to go out, and knowing that he was never going to hear the end of this when Calle and Magnus found out that he and Bård had left the office, broke into an abandoned warehouse and gotten into trouble, he pulled Bård under the staircase, determined to protect his brother from the gangsters.  
“We need to get out of here, Vegard!” Bård panted in exertion.  
“I know that,” Vegard hissed, not needing his brother pointing out the obvious at the moment.  
They wouldn't make it to the back door in one piece, so they would have to find another way. They only had a few seconds left before the goons would catch them, so Vegard made a decision. He chose a broken window under the other side of the stairs that wasn't blocked with a wooden board. The glass seemed to be frail, so he advised Bård to stay under cover under the stairs, pulled his leather jacket over his elbow, sprinted towards the window and jammed his elbow into the broken glass. He succeeded, the glass was almost completely gone. They could probably fit through the opening.   
His leather jacket was ruined, but that didn't really matter at the moment. He waved at Bård who left his cover to run towards him when new shots rang. The rogues were there and they had to hurry.  
Avoiding the shots, Bård ran towards his brother, when he suddenly stepped on one of the old basement doors.   
Those basement doors were installed in 1952 to hold large quantities of whatever chemicals the company could sell with a lot of profit. They were last used in the 1980's, when the company closed it's doors for good. Since then they hadn't been cleaned, oiled, repaired or used. The old and musty wood couldn't support the weight of a grown man anymore.   
As soon as Bård stepped on the doors, they gave in. He yelped, and then he was gone.  
Vegard couldn't move. He just stared at the spot his brother had just been, his elbow still next to the window. He couldn't understand why his brother was gone at first, but after a few seconds he realized that Bård fell.   
He ran back where he came from, hands over his head, shouting: “Don't shoot, we surrender, we surrender, please!”  
And the goons didn't shoot. They laughed and made nasty remarks about the brothers, surrounding Vegard who let himself fall to his knees at the edge of the hole that swallowed his brother. It was so dark, he couldn't see Bård, and he couldn't hear anything either. A cold hand wrapped itself around his heart.  
“Get them, and bring them back to me!” The biggest of the rogues yelled at his comrades. “But if they put up any resistance, well... feel free to use whatever force is necessary. After all, it doesn't really matter if we catch them alive or if they come with us in bits and pieces, as long as they don't get a chance to talk!”.  
Two of the men grabbed Vegard's arms, but Vegard was determined to not leave the hole until he knew if his brother was okay. When even with the help of the third rouge Vegard couldn't be controlled, the boss snarled and turned around.   
“You know what, if he is so determined to visit the other, why don't we help him with that?”  
Before Vegard could process what that meant, he felt someone pushing him in the back so that he lost his balance and fell into the darkness.

\---

Vegard was sure that he hadn't been unconscious, at least not for long. But the fall and the hard impact after a few meters in the dark had robbed him of his senses for a few seconds. Everything ached, and he raised himself on hands and knees slowly and waited for his head to dispel the heavy fog in his brain.   
Suddenly he remembered what he was looking for in this hole in the first place. Sitting on his knees, he felt around himself for his little brother. The hole wasn't big and his hand found a knee after a few moments.   
He followed the knee until he found a torso, took a hold of Bård's shoulders with one hand and held his head, like he would do with his own children, with the other hand. Then he carefully pulled his little brother lap and put Bård's head against his shoulder. Bård didn't make any sounds or movements during this whole ordeal, which freaked Vegard out beyond comparison. He carefully felt around and found a huge lump on the left side of Bård's head. Well, that explained why his brother didn't move.   
He could hear the goons leaving a few meters above him. Well, he wasn't sure if he should be relieved or afraid, since he wasn't sure how Bård and him should come out of this hole alone, but on the other hand the rogues couldn't hurt them when they were not near.  
Oh, how wrong he was. After a few minutes of silence which Vegard spent thinking about a way to get out, he suddenly heard a hissing sound that grew louder and louder. Suddenly the darkness above them turned into a blazing inferno filled with flying shrapnel, choking black smoke, searing heat and the ominous groan of the building as the explosion shook the building around them.  
They set the building on fire, and GBL is probably highly explosive! Vegard thought to himself, clutching Bård to his chest, while shielding his brother as much as he could from the blast, twisting to protect Bård as the floor above them suddenly partially gave in and the light was gone once more.  
*  
Vegard groaned as he slowly pried his eyes open, only to be greeted to the sight of Bård's shadowed face only inches from his own. His little brother's blue eyes were wide, shining orbs filled with terror and the sheen of freshly fallen tears.   
The terror was quickly replaced with relief .Well, at least he is awake again, Vegard thought. He knew that people could get emotional from concussions, so he wasn't too concerned about the tears. Well, if he thought about it, they had enough reasons to cry at the moment.   
Vegard let out a hiss of pain as his brother hugged him tightly, causing daggers of sharp, biting agony to shoot through him. Bård pulled back quickly and looked at him with guilty horror and concern.  
“I-I'm sorry, Vegard, I...j-just thought y-you were... were...” his voice stammered to a halt, unable to finish the awful thought.  
“Yeah, yeah, idiot, I'm not dead!”, Vegard grumbled and grimaced as another sharp piercing torrent of pain laced through him. At least... not yet.   
Bård whimpered softly when he saw his brother's pain-stricken face. Trying to distract his brother from his fears, Vegard asked, “Y-you okay?” and was shocked at how his voice wavered as he tried and partially failed to mask the amount of excruciating pain he was in.  
Bård paused before giving a quick nod. “I... I think I sprained my ankle when I fell, my back and my head hurt a lot... but, you protected me from the explosion, so... I'm okay.”   
“You know of the explosion?”  
“Yeah, I was just waking up then.” He bit his lip. “Are you okay?”, he asked in a small, worried voice.   
“I'm good,” he lied, avoiding his borther's concerned gaze while glancing around. They appeared to have fallen into a tiny room of some sort, only being about four feet wide by 10 feet long. There might have been doors to other rooms, but most of the walls around them were collapsed and it would be futile to search for passageways under the debris.   
As far as they could tell, the walls were made of crumbling brick and mortar that looked as if they had been laid at least a hundred years ago.   
Moving his eyes to the ceiling, he could see where they had fallen through the damaged concrete floor of the warehouse twelve feet above, but the opening was completely blocked by debris, most likely from the roof of the building having collapsed overhead in the explosion.   
The faint crackle and the hiss of angry flames could be heard above them, and the resulting weak orange light infused the small chamber with enough light to see through the thin layer of smoke that seeped through the debris above them.   
He gave a quick glance to his brother, knowing how much Bård hated small dark places, which was exactly where they were trapped at the moment. Vegard turned his attention back to his brother who looked at him, his gaze fearful, panicked, but at the same time, oddly focused and intense. Bård slid his arms beneath Vegard's shoulders and tried to pull him up.  
Vegard let out a grunt of agony and Bård quickly pulled back, his face filled with fear and renewed anxiety.   
“Vegard?”, he questioned, voice quavering with worry. “We need to see how badly you're hurt!”, he finished firmly.   
“No, we need to get the hell outa here!”Vegard growled as he shifted and winced as he tried to ignore the pain, fighting through it; trying to force himself to stand, which turned out to be an impossible task. Slumping back in defeat he let out a sharp cry followed by an irritated huff of breath.   
“Vegar-”, Bård began but Vegard cut him off.  
“My leg's at least sprained,” he groaned but was sure it was broken, “and probably a couple of ribs and my right arm, too. So you're gonna have to look for a way out of here.”  
Bård nodded, standing and limping around the small room. As his brother half-heartedly looked for some other way out besides the blocked hole in the ceiling above them, Vegard surreptitiously slid his good arm under his jacket and shirt, wincing as he touched a deep gash in his side. He pulled his hand away and looked at the blood that coated his fingertips. He swore lowly under his breath. A piece of shrapnel had struck him in the side just under his ribs. He didn't know how bad he'd been hurt, but he strongly suspected that he was hurt pretty badly. He knew he needed medical attention sooner rather than later, but they needed to get out of the chamber first.   
“Hey Bård, is your phone working?”, he asked in a raspy voice.   
Bård shook his head. “I don't know where it is. It must have fallen out of my pocket during my fall,” he answered with a groan of frustration as he finished his slow progress around the room and hobbled over to where Vegard half lay against the rough brick wall.  
“Great,” Vegard grumbled closing his eyes and leaning his head back against cool brick.  
“What do we do?” Bård asked. “Even if we could climb out, the hole's blocked.”  
“Don't forget the fact that the warehouse is still burning above us,” Vegard pointed out as he opened his eyes, looking at the barely discernible features of his little brother. “Guess the only thing we can do is wait till either Magnus or Calle notices we are missing, and hope they find us.”

Calle parked his car in front of the office building and turned off the ignition. Magnus slid from the passenger seat, exhausted but content and pleased with their work, having found a few possible shooting places for the creepy segment they were planning to shoot soon.  
Magnus, by far the youngest on the team, liked nothing more than to contribute to the production of I Kveld Med Ylvis, since he often felt validated whenever he had a good idea for one of the next episodes.  
Calle had gone more for moral support since they didn't have to look for a place together, but had found himself roped into doing much of the investigation work in the end, since Magnus had been much too enthusiastic for that.   
And because of this, Calle and Magnus were both covered in grease, oil, dust and what he suspected to be more than a few spider webs.  
Letting out a tired sigh, he opened his door and slid from the van, looking forward to maybe going home earlier tonight and having a warm shower. The other nights of the weeks had been late nights that lasted into the early mornings and he was more than ready for sleep.   
Together the men turned towards the office building, wanting to tell the Ylvisåker brothers about their findings before they went home. There was a meeting scheduled early the next morning, so Calle really didn't want to stay up too late. Telling Magnus this, the man gave a small nod of acknowledgment, but was already looking through the photos they shot today. As soon as he passed a computer, Magnus sat down and began to transfer them from his camera to the Concorde Network.  
Making his way to the huge office to check with their colleagues and friends, Calle found the area dark and unoccupied. Frowning, he made his way to the lunch room, believing he would at least find Vegard, but he found it also to be dark and empty.   
It was after 7 in the evening, but Calle did not expect both of his colleagues to be at home. Of course, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that both Vegard and Bård had gotten sick of each other's company and rather than kill each other, had taken their work home.  
Feeling a small ball of worry settle into his gut, he took out his mobile and opted for the safer choice of bothering Vegard as opposed to riling his more solitary colleague. It went straight to voicemail. Calle left a short message, asking Vegard to call him back.  
The small ball of unease in his gut grew larger as he scrolled up through his contacts and dialed Bård's number. This time the phone rang, but after six toots he also heard Bård's voice answering the mailbox, left a short message and then put his phone in his pocket again. Calle's skin began to tighten with a mixture of worry and annoyance. The brothers knew that they wanted to talk things through at 7 p.m. but of course they had to do their own thing again, not being considerate about what their colleagues were planing.  
Blowing out a frustrated breath, he strode back down to the office kitchen to make himself and Magnus some tea, intent on waiting for his two troublesome colleagues to return. Sitting at the kitchen table, he slowly drank his tea and wondered what he was going to have to do to make the brothers understand that he wanted to wanted to go home on time at least once a week, too. Magnus joined him after about ten minutes, talking about the day. After another 30 minutes the discussions ran dry, and after an hour of staring into their empty tea cups and coming no closer to home, the small knot of worry that Calle had been unable to completely banish from the bottom of his stomach grew into something akin to dread.  
Pulling out his phone, he called both of the brothers again and only got their voice mail. Standing, he made his way around the table and roused Magnus, who had fallen with his head on the table.   
“Bård and Vegard are gone,” he told his friend, “and I'm worried.”  
Magnus pulled his hands down his face and began asking Calle questions in a rapid manner, to which Calle quickly answered back.   
“Wait Calle, I have an idea. Remember last week when we downloaded some funny apps from the App Store? There was a friend tracker app we kinda thought was funny to install. If they still have it on their mobiles, I could see where they are!”  
Opening the app, Magnus waited for the program to track the brothers. They soon found that he wasn't able to track Vegard's phone, which sent a spike of anxiety flooding through him. Tracking Bård's phone, they narrowed down the younger brother's location to a warehouse in the old part of Sandakerveien.   
Sharing a fearful look with Calle, Magnus couldn't quite get rid of the heavy feeling of wrongness which had suddenly invaded his very soul.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to beautiful and talented vegardsnipples for being my beta!

Vegard watched as his younger brother's darkened figure slumped down in defeat across him. Even though his efforts were futile, Bård had refused to give up. Scouring the darkened room, his fingers traced the rough walls and looked for any weakness in the structure or any hidden hole they could make bigger with a well aimed kick or a little work. Bård had even attempted to reach the ceiling, he stood on the rubble that had fallen through the ceiling with them, in an attempt to find some way out of the cellar, but there was nothing.   
“We're trapped,” Bård whispered with fearful despondence. “There's no way out!” Panic gripped him and held on tightly.  
Trying to calm his frightened brother, Vegard replied, “well, we aren't dead, so that's a start! We just have to wait until Calle and Magnus realize that we aren't at the office, and then get us out of here, that's all!”  
“Do you really think they're looking for us?”  
“Yeah,” Vegard lied, unsure if their two friends really were searching for them, but he gave his brother the hope that they were going to be rescued soon anyway. He took out his pocket knife and started playing with it so that Bård wouldn't realize how much his hands were shaking.  
Bård slowly got to his hands and knees, shuffling through the space towards Vegard, kneeling in front of him and searching his eyes for the truth.   
“Bård, they are looking for us!” Vegard told his brother firmly, his gaze holding his brother's in steady affirmation.   
Bård gave a curt nod and settled back against the same wall that Vegard lay against.   
Vegard didn't tell his brother that even if Calle and Magnus found them missing, their colleagues would have to somehow locate the warehouse, douse the fire, and then remove the debris that covered the opening before being able to actually pull them out from the small space they found themselves in. He didn't want Bård to lose hope and panic.  
They had both heard fire trucks and sirens, but it seemed that the firefighters were content to let the building burn. Vegard assumed that they were focusing instead on stopping the spread of the fire. The fire department could very well be attempting to stop the blaze, but were having issues putting out the fire that ravaged the old, dry, partially wooden building that had gone up like a tinder box.   
As time passed, Vegard found that keeping his eyes open was becoming increasingly difficult. He wondered how much of this was due to his injuries or just general exhaustion, until Bård began to complain how tired he was as well. It was then that he realized that the fire that blazed above them. The surprisingly air-tight space they were occupying was slowly depriving them of their precious oxygen.   
Heart beating rapidly in his chest, he silently prayed that their colleagues would arrive soon, and that by some miracle they had a plan. If they didn't, he and Bård were going to suffocate to death before they were rescued.   
Attempting to keep them both awake and his brother's increasing lethargy at bay, Vegard began talking about inconsequential things; the show, the weather, gardening, anything to keep his brother's mind occupied and away from the growing tiredness that was infecting both of them.  
Vegard's mind began to spin. He knew he could do nothing to get them out of the situation they were in, but he had to find some way. He had to do something to save his little brother. It was his fault that Bård was there with him instead of safe at the office or at home sleeping in his bed.  
Taking in a slow breath, an idea slowly began to take form in his mind, and once it was fully formed, Vegard knew it was the only option he had. He needed to give Magnus and Calle more time; and time was something he and Bård did not have enough of.   
“You know why I'm always the spoilsport?” Vegard asked out of the blue. The question startled his brother. Bård's eyes widened in shock. Bård managed to stir himself enough to sit up straight and swivel around to see Vegard's face better.  
“Why?” Bård asked in curiosity.  
“Because it is my job,” Vegard answered blithely.  
Bård shook his head, and probably rolled his eyes, not that Vegard could see too well in the gloom that surrounded them anymore. The fire above must have burned down a little, because the light that had been filtering from above them seemed to be waning.   
Bård was about to flop back against the wall, but Vegard's next words caught and held his attention again.   
“I fight with you guys and spoil your most incredible ideas and give you hard times because if I didn't, we would never be able to produce a working show. You guys brainstorm, and forget the paperwork, and for what? In the end without my work we have nothing. But that is okay, that is what makes our team tick. You deliver the ideas, I make them feasible.   
"And you do the same for me. When I work my ass off, like today, you help me to not lose the fun in our work. Sometimes I forget that there's more to life than trying to live up to my unreal expectations and perfectionism. And sometimes I miss being with you guys, being carefree and just having fun at work, too. But I have to remind you guys that it is not all fun. I do that by giving you a hard time and by reminding you of your responsibilities, even if you don't like it.”  
“Vegard...”, Bård's words trailed off, lost for words. “Wait, is that why you had me fill in those papers today, even though you had all the information ready? You made Calle and Magnus go and look for a shooting location in our place?”  
Vegard gave a smirk. “I know I always say I hate it when you guys goof off, but I don't. I admire it, hell, I love it. It doesn't mean you don't drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't want it any other way. You all drive me nuts, but you are my friends, my brothers; we're supposed to get under each other's skin.”  
“Vegard, you're starting to freak me out,” Bård said, reaching out and grabbing him by the shoulders and very gently shaking him. “We're going to get out of this!”, Bård insisted, his voice filled with the strong belief that his words were nothing but the absolute truth.   
Vegard gave a small humourless smile, amused that it was now Bård who was trying to comfort him.   
“Well, just in case we don't, I'm letting you know that I love you,” Vegard told his little brother sincerely, concentration on each word he was going to say.   
“Vegard, we are going to be fine!” Bård assured him, his words slurring slightly.   
Vegard only gave his brother a lopsided grin. “You are a pain in the ass, Bård,” he said affectionately and Bård grinned. “But, you're right, Calle and Magnus are gonna find us. And... I'm sorry, Bård.”  
“Vegard, this wasn't your fault.”  
Lightning quick Vegard used his remaining strength to grab a brick that lay close to him, to lift his arm and smash his little brother across the head with it. Bård's eyes rolled up into his head and he slumped to the floor in an unconscious heap.   
“It was,” he replied regretfully. Leaning forward as much as he was able to, Vegard used his good hand to find the pulse at Bård's throat, hoping he hadn't done more damage than just knocking his brother unconscious. Finding his brother's strong pulse beneath his fingertips, he muttered sorrowfully, “I'm sorry for agreeing to this trip and for making you go into this warehouse and I'm sorry for having to do this, but Calle and Magnus need more time, so I've got to give it to them, and this is the only way I can think of to help them out. And besides... I'm probably dead anyway.”

 

Bård painfully pried his eyes open and blinked at the inky darkness that surrounded him. Fear clutched at his heart as terror rose up within him, threatening to choke him. Reaching out blindly with his left hand he encountered the leg of his older brother and let out a sigh of relief. He didn't like small, dark places, but as long as he wasn't alone, he knew he would be okay.   
Trying to remember what had happened, and why he felt so tired, he shifted his position. Clutching at his head he found a second large bump next to the one from the first fall and winced in pain.   
“Vegard?”  
His words were slow and slurred. His memory felt foggy and his tongue had a strange taste, almost metallic, like iron, with tiny picks riding along it's surface.   
“Ve...Vegard...? Are you still awake,” he asked, his mind feeling oddly clouded and he couldn't seem to concentrate. A thought would flutter around in his head like a frightened moth getting too close to the light before everything went dark, and the thought vanished without a trace.  
Feeling along his brother's leg, he crawled closer to Vegard, his hand falling upon his brother's jacket covered chest. He moved his hand further up until he found his brother's shoulder. Roughly he shook it. “Vegard,” he murmured. “Don't... don't fall asleep,” he slurred, trying to wake his brother up.   
He knew Vegard had been hurt, probably worse than he was admitting; which wouldn't be unusual for his older brother, who never admitted any pain or sickness. But still, Bård was worried.   
Deep down in the cotton-ball filled holes in his fogged mind, he knew that sleeping was a bad thing, which meant that no matter how much Vegard wanted to sleep, Bård couldn't let him. He was ashamed to admit it but he also didn't want to be alone in the darkness.   
“Come on, Vegard, wake up,” he insisted managing to shake his brother's shoulder harder, trying to rouse him. Vegard's head lolled back and forth, his black curls falling over his still face. Bård frowned in confusion, and shook his brother, yelling his name as panic managed to clear away a few of the cobwebs that had suffused his barely functioning brain.   
“VEGARD!” he shouted again, waiting for his brother to give some acknowledgment of his efforts. And getting none, he felt horror and terror skitter down his spine. “NO,” he shouted in disbelief, shaking his head back and forth. His brother couldn't be...  
“WAKE UP!” he screamed, fear digging it's icy claws into his heart and squeezing with brutal intent. “Y-you don't... you can't leave me alone!”, he told his brother tearfully as two trails of wetness trickled down his cold cheeks. “You can't give up! Magnus and Calle are looking for us and they're gonna find us and get us out of here,” he insisted, giving his brother's unresponsive body another hard shake. “So you can't...”  
He choked on a sob, unable to finish his sentence. Swallowing, he tried again, pleading with his brother to open his eyes, to say something. To do anything other than just lay there like a broken doll.   
“Please, Vegard, please don't leave me,” he begged wretchedly. “You don't get to die on me and leave me all alone,” he snapped suddenly angry. “You don't get to give up on me 'cause I'm not giving up on you, or Magnus and Calle! Think of Mamma and Pappa! We are getting out of this together,” he snarled at his brother, hoping that yelling would motivate him enough to wake him up.  
The silence stretched forward, only the sound of the wooden structure groaning above their heads breaking the deathly stillness that surrounded them.   
Letting out a sob he buried his face into his brother's clothing covered shoulder. “Please, please, please Vegard!”, he repeated over and over again. He couldn't lose his older brother, he couldn't. Losing his older brother, his best friend, the one that meant the most to him in life, would mean losing a piece of his own heart, and he didn't think he would be able to bear that kind of pain.  
“Vegard...”, he softly begged again, this word slurred and indistinct. “Don't leave me...”, he murmured.  
Suddenly Vegard's arm slowly moved and Bård felt it being placed over his shoulders. “S'okay, Bård. 'things gonna be... okay...” Vegard promised, his voice rough but filled with promise.   
Tears of relief stung Bård's eyes and his throat closed up. Unable to speak for a moment he buried his face into his brother's shoulder even more. Vegard grunted, through whether in pain or acknowledgment, Bård wasn't sure, but he accepted this grunt as an affirmation that Vegard's words were true, and relaxed, feeling his eyes drift shut.  
Realizing that he was falling into sleep, he tried to open his eyes, to fight against the lethargy that deftly wrapped it's comforting tendrils around him, but found that the effort to do so was completely beyond him. He found himself oddly content, wrapped within his brother's warm, comforting embrace. 

 

Calle's heart constricted with repressed terror as he and Magnus waited for the fire engines and emergency personnel to clear the area and to find their friends. Or what was left of them.  
No, he couldn't think like that. Bård's phone was still online, so they would be fine.  
They had tracked Bård's cell phone, which had had been positioned in a warehouse that had lit up the night with an orange glow; the likely to be chemical flames hungrily devouring the half – wooden structure and spewing out billowing black smoke into the darkened night sky.   
The sickening, gut wrenching knot of worry in his stomach grew even heavier at the sight of the engulfed warehouse, and he knew deep down in the pit of his stomach that somehow the brothers were involved in the early morning blaze. He just didn't know how involved they had been.  
Spotting a few firemen trying to extinguish the last lurking fires, Calle's heart sank into the pit of his stomach, which was already swimming with too much knotted dread to accommodate the additional organ.   
Earlier that night the police had caught some thugs in that area. They lurked around the burning building, watching it with gleeful fascination.  
When confronted, the information about their missing friends had spilled forth freely, offered in a taunting tone, coupled with snide remarks and vindictive pleasure when the thugs heard who those young men were that met such a horrific fate. They told Calle, Magnus and the police that they saw the brothers break into the warehouse, but not returning before the fire broke out after an explosion.   
What the thugs themselves wanted in that area was unclear though. Of course they didn't spill what they were doing at the warehouse in the first place. Since they didn't commit a crime anyone knew about, the police let them go after recording their identities. They didn't go, and joined Calle and Magnus in their wait, not anxious like the friends, but excited about the fire and the promise of tragedy.  
Fighting against the overwhelming grief that threatened to consume him, Calle was determined not to give up hope that somehow Bård and Vegard had managed to survive the explosion and the fire.  
The fires were finally extinguished, and the rescue teams plus Magnus and Calle, finally began the frantic, adrenalin pumping task of scouring the smouldering ruins of the once giant warehouse.  
Trudging through the charred, sodden debris looking for any signs of their missing friends, Calle and Magnus both raised their voices, calling out for the brothers. Hampered by the darkness and the moist heat that surrounded them, they ardously moved beams, boards and rubble; their heaving breaths and grunts of exhaustion mingled with the calls of their friend's names were the only sounds filling the night.   
Magnus lifted yet another heavy beam, throwing it to the side as he uncovered nothing but more of the burned out structure that had partially collapsed in on itself. The more debris he shifted without finding any sign of his missing friends, the more his heart should have been filled with hope; the hope that the brothers weren't actually in the building when it had exploded and burned, but for some reason, this particular emotion eluded him.  
The feeling of wrongness – of dread- sat like a heavy ball of lead within his gut and did not dissipate; no matter how many heavy pieces of scorched and charred wood he moved that only revealed more scorched, and charred wood and concrete beneath.  
Looking over his shoulder, he checked to see Calle and the other helper's progress. Everyone was digging in the rubble, everyone's face grew more and more tired and desperate.   
Moving another charred and broken beam, he threw it out of the way. Pulling a few more broken bricks from at his feet, he still found nothing. Shoulders slumping in defeat, he straightened and looked toward's Calle, his colleague wearing the same cloak of defeat around his shoulders as he did.  
Slowly clambering over charred and ruined beams, he slowly made his way to where Calle stood.  
Calle glanced up at him and then away, his blue eyes searching the carnage, taking in the scene and analyzing what he could see.  
“Is it...” Magnus began, his voice hoarse from shouting his friend's names in the vain hope that they would answer. “It is possible that... that there's … nothing left of them?” he asked, voice shaking as his throat tightened in fear at the grim, horrifying answer.   
Calle closed his eyes before giving a quick nod. “I think it... it's possible that the blast and the intense heat...” Calle's voice caught in his throat and he cleared it before continuing. “But... there sh-should be some re...remains left,” he managed to choke out as he took another deep, steadying breath and tried to push his grief aside and look at the situation logically.  
Magnus, blinking back the tears that filled his eyes at his colleague's words, cleared his throat and nodded.  
“But we have found no evidence,” Calle observed, his voice gaining in strength as he wiped away a tear that hung upon the edges of his eyes. “There is nothing to suggest that either Vegard or Bård were caught in the blast, except that those punks over there saw nothing!” he stated firmly.   
Magnus nodded again. Calle was holding onto this faint hope, and Magnus would do no different. His friend was right. They hadn't found any evidence of their colleagues and that was a good thing.  
Calle scanned the wreckage and made his way over to a promising pile of debris and began pawing through it, his muscles straining as he tried to move a particularly heavy structural beam. Moving quickly to help his overburdened friend, they hauled the beam together, revealing yet another layer of charred, broken and shattered wood and brick remains burned beyond recognition.  
Determination filling them, they cleared more and more of the debris away, the rubble seemed to go below the layer that should have been the ground level of the warehouse.  
Sharing a look, renewed hope flared within them as they pulled away a shattered piece of plywood, revealing a small hole about the size of a fist in the floor beneath their feet.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off: ADDITIONAL TRIGGER WARNINGS: Blood, Character Death, and suicide - and selfharm - warning if you squint. Also, this is an AU where there are only two brothers without their own families.  
> Then: Thank you so much Leanne, you helped me with everything, I love discussing this stuff with you! Me writing wouldn't have been possible without you!  
> And now go and enjoy (yeah, well... at least read) the last chapter of penury!

"There's something under here!" Magnus shouted, able to shine his light into the hole. The beam was feeble and shone minimally into the inky blackness of the hole below them. At his call, some of the firemen came to their side and helped to move some of the rubble from the hole.   
Pulling away more of the heavy debris, a few twisted steel beams were wedged in the slowly growing hole, making it difficult to clear a decent entrance.  
Calle's heart leapt into his throat as the beam from the flashlight caught Bård's arm. Hope flared in him and he, Magnus and the helpers rapidly pulled away more and more of the rubble, exposing a hole wide enough that they were able to see into the entirety of the cavity that their colleagues had fallen into.  
There lay Vegard, slumped against a brick wall, his arm thrown protectively over Bård who was curled into his older brother's chest. At first glance it looked only as if the two brothers were sleeping peacefully together, awaiting rescue, but then Calle noticed the blood. When the light hit upon the brothers' faces, they did not move.   
"Bård! Vegard!" Magnus shouted, and Calle had no doubt that everything that Calle had just observed, Magnus had noticed as well. So did the firemen, judging by the hustle around them and one frantically calling an ambulance using their radio.   
Magnus's worried call did not produce any movement or acknowledgement from either of their friends, and Calle felt a rush of terrified adrenalin fill him. He was glad that Magnus had taken over the leading role, he felt like his blood had frozen, seeing his oldest buddies lying down there unmoving.   
"We need to get them out of there," Magnus insisted quickly, but the firemen were already moving, trying to shift more of the ruined warehouse debris and make a hole big enough for them to pass through to reach the brothers.  
"Calle?" Magnus asked in a shaky voice, as together they pulled a large beam of steel from the hole.  
"I don't know," he answered briskly, his mind obviously going through certain variables and odds, and coming to a conclusion that Magnus probably didn't want to know about.  
They could hear the ambulance arriving, the paramedics running towards them with stretchers and medical supplies. They soon joined the rescue team and observed the brothers, trying to get a better picture of the situation before them and how to help them.   
Finishing the task in a heavy, grim silence, Magnus gave into his fear and blinked back tears that suddenly stung his eyes. "W-what if we're too late?" He asked miserably.  
One of the paramedics turned to him, becoming aware that the man in front of him was a civilian; kind of young and very distressed, and that he knew him from TV. Just like the men in the hole, as he suddenly became aware. Nevertheless, he had a job to do, and at the moment all he could do to help was offer the man some comfort. So he answered, doing his best to sound factual and brisk: "They are no doubt suffering from oxygen deprivation, which is the most likely reason they are unresponsive and unconscious."   
Calle could detect the hint of worry that infused his words anyway, because the other option besides unconscious was of course…dead. He decided not to comment on it; there were more important tasks at hand.  
Moving as quickly as they were able to, Calle could only pray that they hadn't been too late; that they hadn't just stood outside watching the fire burn and leaving their friends to die in a tiny tomb, slowly being deprived of their life giving oxygen.  
Calle and Magnus backed away from the hole they had created and the firemen quickly secured a rope to a metal beam before lowering themselves down first, Calle and Magnus following right on their heels.   
The chamber they found themselves in was narrow and cramped. The ceiling was perhaps 3.5 meters above their heads, not an easy distance, but not an impossible one. It was obvious that their two colleagues had been unable to do anything to escape as the hole above their heads had been blocked and there appeared to be no other way out.  
Bracing himself, Calle quickly looked at his two younger friends. Magnus, at his side and shivering watched as the paramedic first dug his fingers into Bård's neck, attempting to find a pulse.  
"He's alive!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with cautious relief. "But just barely. We need to get him out of here and get him on oxygen as soon as possible!"  
Calle helped him as he reached for Bård, pulling him off of Vegard's chest. He heaved his friend into his arms, then on to a stretcher that the other paramedics were about to pull from the hole.  
Magnus hurriedly turned his attention to Vegard, murmuring, "Come on, Vegard," as the paramedic dug his fingers further into Vegard's throat, desperately searching for a pulse.  
Magnus's shoulders slumped, his head bowing forward as he took in a shuddering breath, preparing himself to hear the news that he already knew in his heart to be devastating.  
The paramedic's pale face (Magnus was suddenly aware that he didn't even know the man's name, but what did that matter now) finally turned to him and he shook his head, a movement Magnus was barely able to discern through the tears of grief that suddenly filled his eyes.   
Calle, now that Bård was out of the hole, turned around and brought his attention to Vegard. He waited for a few seconds to hear how badly Vegard was hurt, as he realized that no one around him spoke or moved to help Vegard. He looked at Magnus' face, saw the tears running over his cheeks, and before he even realised what this meant, his own tears sprung out of his eyes, too. Then came the pain.  
Vegard, his oldest friend, his colleague, yes, the man who was like his brother, was here in this hole, but wasn't with them anymore. There was nothing he could do for him anymore. Next to him, Magnus started to shake and breathe heavily.   
Quickly blinking away the dampness, Calle felt determination fill him. "Magnus, you ride with Bård to the hospital, I'll try to get Vegard breathing-"  
“Calle..." the paramedic interrupted. They never introduced themselves, but of course the paramedic knew who he was. Calle wished he knew his name, too.  
"He's gone," he stated with a grim finality that seared Calle's very soul and shattered it.  
"No," Calle snapped, ignoring the evidence all around him: the pool of blood, the lack of a pulse and the ashy pallor of Vegard's skin.   
He still stubbornly shook his head back and forth in denial. "He's not gone. We can still save him, it's not too late."   
Abruptly turning around, Magnus, with tears streaming down his face and anger blazing in his eyes, furiously roared at Calle, "HE'S GONE!"   
Magnus choked on these words as his voice cracked in pain and grief. "And...and if we don't get Bård out of here, we'll lose him too." Wiping away his tears with the back of his hand Magnus took the rope they climbed down earlier and started his way up the hole to follow Bård's stretcher into the ruined, burned out warehouse above them.  
Once Magnus had safely been helped out of the hole to the rubble strewn floor, Calle turned his attention back to Vegard, and he found that he was barely able to remain standing.  
He took a moment to compose himself because he wanted to clutch at Vegard's body and shake him violently, telling him that they were there and to come back to them, but he knew that this plea would be little too late for his friend to acknowledge or respond to.  
Calle forced his feet to approach Vegard's corpse. Kneeling down, he slowly picked up his friend's bloodstained pocket knife, and slipped it into his own pocket before sliding his hands beneath his limp arms and pulling him up from the floor -sticky with too much drying blood- and putting Vegard's body onto the second stretcher the paramedics had just let down. The paramedic let him do the task, knowing how much this could help the comedian with accepting his friend's death. There wasn't anything to do wrong anymore, anyways.   
He stayed at the crying man's side, knowing that his colleagues would care of the younger Ylvis brother.  
Knowing he should move quickly, but feeling like he was wading through quicksand, Calle forced his sluggish appendages to complete the task of removing their friend's body from what could have become his tomb. He was aided by the firemen, who all stayed silent except for the necessary exchange of instructions while they pulled the stretcher with Vegard's corpse up.  
Exiting the chamber, Calle pulled himself up and into the night, the air filled with the overpowering scent of smoke and small flakes of white ash that drifted lazily upon the light wind.  
In the meantime, Magnus followed the paramedics who quickly, but gently, scooped Bård on the stretcher, making steady progress across the mangled remains of the warehouse floor towards the parked ambulance.  
Calle swiftly followed the last two paramedics to the second van in which they loaded Vegard's body. When the doors closed, Calle numbly turned around and headed to Magnus, who just went into the ambulance in which Bård was gently placed.  
Calle didn't know what to do, only one person could ride with Bård, and Vegard didn't need him anymore. He felt useless, powerless, empty inside.  
The paramedic from earlier approached him, just as the ambulance with Bård and Magnus in it took off. Calle could finally read his name. Anders. Who cared.  
“Do you have someone who could take you to the hospital?”, Anders gently asked. Calle just shook his head. There was no one anymore. Normally, Vegard would pick him up if he was in trouble. Vegard...  
“You know, this ambulance is going to the same hospital as the other one. If you wish, you can ride with me in the front, the rest of the team went of with Bård Ylvisåker.”  
Calle just nodded and headed to the ambulance. He never rode in an ambulance before, and knowing that Vegard was lying in the back, lifeless, bloody and grey, made it extra weird.  
Closing the door to the back of the van, Anders went to the driver's side door, throwing it open and leaping inside, starting up the engine and peeling off in to the night. There was no need to hurry anymore, and the first ambulance was long gone, not even the signals could be heard anymore.  
Calle's heart was heavy and his cold cheeks were damp; stained with the silent tears that had streamed unheeded down his face. Looking down on his hands, he saw that they were covered in Vegard's blood up to the elbows.   
He couldn't stop the sob that worked itself up his throat. Anders noticed, and seeing the comedian staring at his bloodied hands, handed Calle a dispenser with disinfectant solution and some paper towels he had in front of the ambulance. Calle felt some gratitude for this man through the pain. He would have to thank him later though, he feared that he would simply not be able to stop screaming if he opened his mouth right now.   
So the way to the hospital was silent, and Calle had time to think of all the things that lay ahead of them. Telling friends, family of the boys, the manager, still having to worry about Bård, and never I Kveld Med Ylvis again. Heck, there wasn't even an Ylvis anymore. This thought brought new tears to his eyes.   
Magnus looked over as Calle entered Bård's hospital room. The doctors and nurses had placed their still unconscious friend in a bed after checking him all over, but his only injuries appeared to be carbon monoxide poisoning, a sprained ankle, and a bump on the head.  
Of course, this diagnosis could have been completely different if they had arrived but a few scant minutes later, and they would instead be preparing to bury two brothers instead of one.

It had been a few hours since they had pulled their friends from the warehouse and Magnus hadn't left Bård's side except when he had to as x-rays were taken. If he was honest with himself, the reason for this was twofold. Firstly, he did not want to leave Bård's bedside in the eventuality that his friend actually woke up. He wanted to be present for this, so that he could reassure Bård that he was safe and with friends.  
Secondly, if he stayed within the confines of Bård's bedroom, then he wouldn't have to focus upon the fact that two brothers had been caught up within the blast of the warehouse, but there was only one he knew would open his eyes again.  
They had lost their dark haired friend that night, and Calle couldn't deal with it…not now. He knew he needed to be strong for his remaining friends, he was the oldest, but he found that at the moment, he was not able to gather the strength required to do this task; which felt monumental and completely beyond his abilities.  
And cowardly though he felt it was, Calle had allowed Anders to deal with their friend's corpse, because Magnus had asked to look after Bård, and Calle hadn't protested this arrangement; even though he should have. He also wanted Anders to arrange the news of their son's death and their other son's injury to be delivered to Ylvisåker parents first thing in the morning. He just couldn't arrange for that, he dreaded that task, he felt powerless and guilty about not finding the brothers earlier that night and not being able to rescue the oldest Ylvis brother.  
Calle quietly approached the bed and Magnus quickly stood from the chair he had spent the last few hours sitting in. Calle ignored the preferred seat, even though he looked as if he was about to collapse.  
Dark circles had appeared beneath his eyes and he looked to have aged several years within the last few hours. Numbly, Magnus wondered if he too looked as bad as Calle did, and concluded that he probably did.  
Calle bent over Bård and adjusted the oxygen mask that had been placed over their friend's face. Seemingly satisfied that he was stable and comfortable, Calle motioned with his head towards the doorway. Magnus wanted to protest leaving Bård's side, in case he woke up, but the grim set of Calle's features, as well as the grief-stricken exhaustion that hovered within his friend's eyes forced him to gather whatever strength of will he still possessed, and followed Calle into the hall.  
Calle however did not stop just outside the doorway and instead proceeded down the hall towards the stairs that would take them down to the main floor. Stopping, Magnus looked over his shoulder at Bård's room in silent protest. Calle, sensing this movement offered up the assurance that 'Bård will be fine for a few minutes.'  
Having no choice but to accept Calle's reassuring words, Magnus followed his colleague down the stairs, through the ground floor, and into the mortuary that was attached to the hospital, where Magnus knew that Vegard's body lay.  
Taking a few deep breaths and sternly telling himself that he needed to take responsibility -to be strong, and to stop acting like a coward- Magnus walked to the little back door by which Calle stood.   
Calle took out a small silver key that Anders had offered him only half an hour ago, since he was technically the closest person to Vegard here, and opened the door, leading them into a small, dark room in which two overhead lamps shone dimly through the room.   
Calle didn't bother to turn on the main lights, but lead Magnus close to the cot, silent and motionless, just like their friend's body hidden from view by a crisp white linen sheet on it.  
Feeling as if he was living his worst nightmare which had leapt from his mind and become horrifically tangibly real, Magnus looked at Calle's forbidding features.  
Without saying anything Calle walked to the side of the cot opposite of where Magnus stood, and without any warning, threw the sheet back from Vegard's peaceful face.  
Seeing Vegard lying like that upon the table nearly broke him. His legs nearly gave way as a tidal wave of grief and regret washed over him. A thousand 'if only's' burned though his mind as he tried to come to grips with the fact that as his best friend lay dying in a dark hole under a burning warehouse, he had been looking for a damned shooting place, and when he had gotten back to the office, he had sat, silently fuming at Vegard for leaving the office, and thinking of the extra hours he would have to spend away from home now.  
And now all he could do was regret that his final words to his colleague, had been ones of anger and annoyment about having to go out that day despite the extra work they already had.  
He didn't know why his two bosses had been out last night, or how they had ended up in the warehouse district, and Calle found that the answer did not really matter, because the stark reality of the situation lay before him, motionless, and unresponsive upon a cot.  
“There's something I wanted to show you, it is about what Anders, the paramedic told me earlier," Calle offered softly, his words sounding like nails upon a chalkboard as they ripped through the oppressive silence that had fallen over them.   
"Veg..." Calle's voice cracked as Magnus watched his friend valiantly try to hold it together. Calle's lip quivered and his eyes brightened with tears he rapidly blinked back. Calle licked his dry lips and attempted to speak again. "Vegard had extensive injuries."  
"The blood…" Magnus whispered softly.  
Calle continued as if he had not spoken, as if he needed to get out what he needed to say in one go, or else he would be unable to do it at all. "A broken leg, a deep laceration to his side, three broken ribs, a broken upper arm, and a shattered radius and ulna. Anders thinks he managed to shield Bård from much of the blast and took the entire impact of their fall."   
Magnus blinked back the moisture that blurred his vision, his throat closing up on him so that he was unable to speak. But Calle didn't seem to be waiting for him to say anything because he continued to talk.  
"His wounds were extensive and very serious, but with proper medical attention…they weren't fatal."   
Magnus' eyes widened in confusion as his brain tried to understand what it was that Calle was trying to tell him.  
That was when Calle reached over and moved the white sheet away, exposing only Vegard's arms and hands that were folded over his hospital gown clad chest.  
Deep molted bruising covered his friend's flesh, his one arm swollen and slightly misshapen. But this was not what caught his attention. Instead, two, long, deep vertical cuts marred each arm in an identical way.   
There could be no mistaking the purpose of the cuts, or that they had been deliberate.  
Eyes flying to Calle, he looked for confirmation of what he suspected, but Calle didn't say anything. He simply pulled up the sheet, covering Vegard's arms back up.  
Unable to take the tense silence anymore, Magnus opened his mouth, his voice a croak of disbelief and horror. "Calle, did Vegard…did he…?" He wanted to get the words out, to confirm the awful truth, but he couldn't, his voice choking on the sob of horror that rose unbidden in his throat and escaped past his lips.  
Shaking his head, Magnus begged Calle to tell him the truth. Something that didn't involve Vegard taking his own life, and bleeding to death propped up against a brick wall, lying upon a cold hard cement floor in the dark.  
“Why?" The word was clamouring around in his head, screaming at him over and over again, but this word that sounded so loud in his head only came out as a pitiful strangled whisper of inquiry.  
"W-we found Bård b-barely alive…" was all the answer Calle seemed to be able to give before he broke and leaned over the still body, burying his face into Vegard's exposed neck.  
Great, heaving sobs of grief were torn from Calle's mouth, and this display shattered whatever strength of will Magnus had cobbled together to allow him to remain standing.  
Stumbling around the cot, Magnus pulled Calle from Vegard's corpse and turned his friend around, wrapping him in his arms and slowly sinking to the ground where he was unable to contain his own grief any longer. He let go, burying his face into Calle's shoulder and sobbing out his wretchedness as Calle continued to weep miserably.   
There upon the floor and wrapped in each other's arms, cloaked in an anguish that seemed insurmountable, Magnus had a moment of clarity, of complete and total understanding, which only served to deepen his grief further; if that were even possible.  
Eventually pulling away from each other, tears were hastily wiped away and Calle mumbled that he should go and check on Bård. Magnus gave an understanding nod. Helping each other off the ground, Magnus watched Calle leaving the room.  
Turning his attention back to Vegard's motionless body, he brushed his fingertips gently across the surface of his dead friend's cold cheek.  
Magnus wasn't sure if his dark haired friend believed himself to be dying or not, but it was obvious that he had known that they were running out of oxygen, and had decided that he was going to give his little brother the best chance of survival…by taking his own life.  
This thought alone brought another wave of tears to sting his eyes and trickle down his cheeks. Leaning over Vegard just like Calle had done, he buried his face in Vegard's shoulder and sobbed out his heart wrenching grief, coupled with deep thankfulness for the selfless act of heroism Vegard had performed.  
Dragging himself away, Magnus placed his hand on his friend's. "You did good, Vegard, you did good. I will never forget that! Thank you."   
He reluctantly stepped away, taking one last look at Vegard's face before pulling the sheet up and over his friend's immobile features.  
A few hours later, as the sun was already rising, face composed into lines of worry coupled with hope, Bård opened his eyes. Before Calle was even able to speak, Bård sat up quickly, and launched himself into Calle's arms.  
"I knew you'd find us and save us!" Bård wailed gratefully, and Magnus swore that a tiny piece of his soul broke at his friend's thankful words. Calle must have experienced the same thing, because his older colleague stiffened, before giving Bård a tight hug and then pulling away and fussing over him.  
"How do you feel, Bård?" Calle asked, his voice full of concern.  
"I'm okay. My head hurts a little, and my ankle throbs a bit, but other than that I'm okay."  
"I'll see if I can get you something for the pain," Calle offered and Bård nodded as he wiped away the tears of relief and thankfulness that had made their way down his cheeks.  
Magnus smiled, but the smile felt as if it would shatter his face completely. The younger brother was alive, and for that he could not be more grateful, but they had lost the other brother.  
Bård's eyes slid to Magnus' and after a moment, he paled, eyes sliding to Calle for confirmation of what he suspected. Eyes going wide in disbelief and terror, Bård asked in a small voice, "W-where's Vegard?"  
Calle swallowed, taking Bård's hand in his own, but Bård roughly pulled it away; anger and grief filling his eyes. Taking in a shuddering breath that ended with a sob, Bård pulled himself together, staring at his hands which had fisted themselves into his blankets.  
"H-he didn't make it...did he?" Bård asked, his voice no more than a whisper as he roughly wiped away at a tear that trembled at the edge of his eye.  
Calle shared a devastated look with Magnus, his gaze pleading.  
Kneeling down beside Calle, who was sat in the chair pulled up to the bed, Magnus licked his dry lips, and swallowed roughly before attempting to speak. "Bård-" he began softly, but Bård waved his words away.  
"He saved my life," Bård stated bluntly and Magnus's heart twisted at the guilt that he saw permeate his friend's grief-stricken eyes. "H-he was...he was talking like…like he KNEW he wasn't going to make it," Bård murmured softly, his voice wavering and catching in his throat. "He was pretending like he was okay, but I knew he was hurt, worse than what he was admitting." Bård waited, begging them with his eyes to tell him that Vegard was fine, and that he was just in another room recovering, but they couldn't. After breaking down into agonizing sobs of misery that ripped and tore at what remained of Magnus's tattered heart and soul, Bård received a pill from a nurse, “against the pain”, and fell into an exhausted sleep.  
Calle had to look away for a minute from the younger brother's (no, now he was an only child's) devastated features, because if he didn't, he was going to break down, and he couldn't afford to do that anymore. He needed to be strong, he needed to support his shattered friends and help them pick up the pieces as best as they could.  
Forcing himself to look back at Bård, Calle caught Magnus' eye and he understood the message in his other friend's gaze. Bård could never know the true sacrifice that Vegard had made, because it would destroy him. They had to tell Anders, too. Vegard was dead, that was bad enough, Bård wouldn't survive the truth about that night.   
And so, later, between Calle, Magnus, Anders and Bård's doctor, the lie was spun. As long as no one from the immediate family would ask for the autopsy and medical reports, no one would know. For the sake of Bård's health, the doctor agreed to change the truth a little. On the death certificate the cause of death would be suffocation; the bump on Bård's head was the result of debris falling from the ceiling.  
Bård accepted what they had told him had happened to this beloved brother, the parents were so shaken by grief that they couldn't even sit through all the details they thought about when Calle called them later. They asked Calle to care for their son and all that had to be done until they could arrive from Bergen the next day, and Calle was thankful for getting into control of the situation again, although he dreaded what he had to do.  
Eventually, clutching to Magnus' hand as if it was his only line to the living world, Bård was able to relate the whole tale of how they had ended up in the warehouse and the words of comfort Vegard had shared with Bård to keep their spirits up as they sat in the dark, hoping against hope to be rescued.  
Bård also told Magnus why Vegard and he had went out that day and why Vegard constantly spoiled all the fun they had at the office.   
Constantly placing a hand on Bård, as if he was afraid to loose him too, Magnus listened to him weep, knowing that there was nothing he could do, or would be able to do to fill the void that had been left in all of their hearts at Vegard's death.  
They buried Vegard next to their grandfather in Bergen, only their family and a few close friends and colleagues from Concorde TV at the ceremony, and his grave was marked by a simple black gravestone that bore his name.  
Their friends and family wept openly, talking about how brave, heroic, kind and amazing Vegard had been, but only Magnus and Calle knew the true extent of Vegard's heroism, his bravery and his ultimate sacrifice.  
Bård reached out, placing a red rose upon his brother's grave atop the multitude of white roses that lay upon it.  
Calle stole a moment to himself at Vegard's grave side as the family, friends and colleagues quietly spoke among themselves. He forced a smile as he stared at the name on the simple tombstone. He thought of his best friend.   
The friend who had stayed at his side through thick and thin. The friend who would do anything for the people he loved. A single tear slid down his cheek, though he thought he had cried all of them out.   
"Thank you, Vegard," he said. "For everything."


End file.
